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Latest by M. Smith

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Samsung’s new Chromebooks should make Microsoft and Intel nervous

Samsung's new Chromebooks may signal a new battle. On one side is ARM and Chrome OS -- on the other, Intel and Windows.
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AMD reveals details of new Vega GPU architecture, goes all-in on HBM2

AMD has finally dished out details on Vega. As expected, it has HBM 2 memory, and it focuses reducing memory consumption of modern triple-A games.
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Samsung Odyssey 15: Our First Take

Samsung hopes to change the course of the gaming market with its Odyssey 15 gaming laptop, but its price may be too high for the hardware.
Intel Core i7-7700K review

Intel Core i7-7700K review

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake) 2016

Digital Storm Velox (Kaby Lake) review

Oculus Touch review

Oculus Touch review

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Close to the Metal Ep. 26: Oculus Touch live review

Oculus Touch is here, just in time for the holidays. It adds much needed motion controls to the Rift headset, but is it a step up from the Vive?
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Best Products of 2016: Computing

Alienware 13 R3 review

Alienware 13 R3 review

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Close to the Metal Ep. 25: The best and worst of computing in 2016

2016 was one heck of year. Thankfully, for PC enthusiasts, the good largely outweighed the bad. We discuss what impressed us, and what disappointed us.
AMD Radeon RX 470

AMD just released an awesome new benchmark for DirectX 12 games – here’s how to use it

OCAT, new from AMD, is the first good all-purpose DirectX 12 benchmark. It works with both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 24: What can you do about a bad console-to-PC port?

The PC is by far the most powerful platform for modern gaming, but its technical greatness is often held back by poor console-to-PC ports.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 23: You should buy a monitor this holiday season

The holiday shopping season means hot sales, and this year there's a particular category of hardware the stands out. Monitors.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 22: Apple MacBook Pro live review

Apple's MacBook Pro has finally received an update, but it's expensive. Is it worth the upgrade? We go in-depth on this week's Close to the Metal podcast.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 21: Whoa, 2-in-1s are suddenly good

Lenovo Yoga 910 review

Lenovo Yoga 910 review

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Close to the Metal Ep. 20: What do you get from a $10 gaming mouse?

Gaming mice are know to be expensive, yet the Amazon.com best-selling list is dominated by super-cheap, $10 gaming mice. Are they worth considering?
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Close to the Metal Ep. 19: The new MacBook Pro is revealed, but is it fast?

Apple has revealed all the details of the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch and 15-inch, including what's inside. How do they stack up against Windows PCs?
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Apple’s new MacBook Pro doesn’t outrun competitors, but the Touch Bar is special

Windows 10 Creators Update

You OK, Apple? As Windows 10 hits its stride, MacOS is wheezing

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Close to the Metal Ep. 18: GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti live review

Nvidia's GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti are the company's new budget video cards, with prices as low as $110. Can you use these cards as an upgrade to your existing desktop?
Acer Swift 7 SF713-51-M90J

Acer Swift 7 review

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Nintendo’s Switch is small, but it can slug it out with PS4 and Xbox One

While exact hardware specifications for the Nintendo Switch haven’t been released, we know enough to say how it’ll stack up against the Xbox One and PS4.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 17: Can you really live with just one USB port?

Some of the best new laptops have just one or two USB Type-C ports. Can you really get by with one port, and if so, how?
Nvidia

Nvidia's new GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti aim to put your aging desktop back in the game

Nvidia’s Pascal architecture is coming to the budget market. The company has taken the wraps off the much-rumored GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti cards.
WD Blue 1TB SSD

WD Blue 1TB SSD review

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Close to the Metal Ep. 16: WD Blue SSD live review, and how fast should your SSD be?

In this week's episode we discuss Western Digital's first solid state drive, then dive into the surprisingly deep and complex market for solid state drives.
hp envy fall 2016 model update makes the name premium again

HP makes the Envy name premium again with new laptops, all-in-one, monitor

HP has launched major update of four key products in its high-end Envy and Spectre line, just in time for the holiday buying season.

Looking for the Oculus Connect 3 keynote? You can watch it here

Oculus Connect 3 is the company's major annual conference. This year, we expect to see it announce official pricing and release details for the Oculus Touch controllers.
asus zenbook 3 2016

Asus Zenbook 3 UX390UA review

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Close to the Metal Ep. 15: 7th-Gen Intel Core and holiday laptops

Intel's 7th-gen Core processors are now appearing in laptops available online and in stores. How important is it to get the latest processor?
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‘World of Warcaft: Legion’ review

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Razer releases the Kraken — two of them, in fact

Razer has released the Kraken - two of them, in fact. Its new Kraken Pro V2 and 7.1 V2 go on sale in October are affordable prices.
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Close to the Metal Ep. 14: GTX 1060 review, and what’s up with video card prices?

We took a close look at a high-end GTX 1060 from Zotac. Though its performance was great, the price was hard to tolerate, given its increase over MSRP.